After housing and the car, holiday’s are probably the next most expensive thing we spend our hard-earned cash on.
Creating your dream holiday can also take months of planning and organising; ensuring passports are in date, booking excursions, planning your wardrobe to arranging travel insurance and entertainment for the kids, but there is one thing that many people forget………keeping your home safe when you go away.
Nothing is ever going to be full proof, however, these are my top tips on keeping your home safe.
5 ways to keep your home safe when you go on holiday
1. Install a home alarm system
Did you know that homes without security systems are almost three times more likely to be targeted by a burglar?
Having an alarm system in the house not only gives you peace of mind that your home is protected, but can also save on your insurance costs too, especially if the security system is visible or well-advertised. Some even allow you to visually check-in on home via smartphone apps.
It is best to go for a home alarm which is connected to an Alarm Receiving Centre, where security experts can handle any warning or emergency situation and activate the most appropriate security protocols for any incident.
2. Lock all your doors and windows
It goes without saying that doors and windows should be locked, but make sure keys are removed from windows and locked away, or well out of sight.
I can highly recommend getting a small security safe to keep your keys and valuables in, however if that isn’t an option, hide your valuables someone won’t think of looking.
3. Don’t broadcast your absence
It’s really tempting to make all your friends envious with a holiday countdown, however, letting everyone about a prolonged absence from your home or posting your holiday photo’s not only lets everyone know when you are away, but it can affect any claims if the worst does happen.
4. Have a trusted friend or neighbour check the house
Making the house look lived in can help deter burglars. We have Philips Hue lightbulbs which can either be operated by a timer, or you can switch on via a smartphone app.
You could also ask a trusted friend or neighbour to pop in regularly and adjust the curtains, pick up any post and even water the plants to make the house look as if it is still being lived in.
5. Install an outdoor sensor light and video doorbell
Having an outdoor motion sensor light is not only great for being able to see your front door when arriving home on dark winter evenings, but is an inexpensive deterant too.
Investing in a video doorbell, which replaces your existing wired doorbell, will show you everything on your doorstep – people head to toe or parcels on the ground. Some even allow you to speak to whoever is at the door and offer 24/7 streaming, allowing you to check in at any time.
Great advice. It’s always a worry when you go on holiday. We ask our neighbours and a friend to keep an eye on our house!
Video doorbells intrigue me. I want to look into one of these for our home
Whenever I go on holiday, there’s often so much to think about that I tend to overlook home safety – in reality, though, I should probably be attaching far more priority to it!
Very good tips here, too many times people post on social media etc that they are away – you have to be so careful coz you never know who’s watching!
I must say the most useful practice is to ask your most trusted friend to keep visiting the home.
Next to being safe, the confidence of feeling safe will help you be a more productive, healthy, and focused person.